RALEIGH - Robert J. Higdon, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, announces that a federal grand jury in Raleigh has returned an Indictment charging DAVID E. PIVER, age 59, from Newton Square, Pennsylvania, with conspiracy to commit visa fraud and false statements, fraud and misuse of visas permits and other documents; false statement in an immigration proceeding relating to alien registry; and, aiding and abetting.
According to the Indictment, PIVER is an attorney admitted to practice law in Pennsylvania and in immigration proceedings throughout the United States. The Indictment alleges that PIVER conspired with a Nepalese client to conceal a past false claim of United States citizenship. The purpose of the scheme was to fraudulently qualify the Nepalese client for lawful permanent resident status in the United States. The charging document alleges that it was further part of the conspiracy that PIVER would be paid approximately $10,000.
Publicly available court documents also show that, in order to accomplish the purpose of the conspiracy, PIVER instructed the Nepalese client to deny having made the previous claim of United States citizenship and file immigration applications containing false statements. When the Nepalese client was confronted by immigration officers in Durham, North Carolina about his prior false claim, PIVER advised him to recant the statement and withdraw the application. Thereafter, PIVER advised the Nepalese client to resubmit the application containing the same false statement, but move to a different city in order to avoid the jurisdiction of the immigration office in Durham, North Carolina.
If convicted, PIVER would face maximum penalties of fifty years’ imprisonment, a $1,750,000.00 fine, and a term of supervised release following any term of imprisonment.
The charges and allegations contained in the Indictment are merely accusations. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.
The case is being investigated by the Document Benefit Fraud Task Force (DBFTF) led by Homeland Security Investigations, and assisted by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), among other agencies.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
